I'm not sure I would have passed the test

The same people who thought it was a good idea to let me run a school encouraged me to attend a conference exclusively for administrators. At the beach. Which is an especially cruel place to make people sit inside listening to boring speakers while others were outside riding bikes and building sand castles.

One of the speakers talked about how it was critical that we teach children how to problem solve. Apparently it is more important for them to figure out real life situations than it is to learn their multiplication tables. Who knew?

Now if only they'd get the state test changed. We could set up some real life situations. For instance, we could put the students outside right before a storm and rate them on how they respond. The ones who came in from the rain would clearly be ready to be passed up to the next level while the ones who stayed put would need some type of intervention and face possible retention.

At the end of the first day, a 5K beach run was scheduled because apparently somebody thinks it is fun watching a bunch of out of shape administrators huff and puff down the coast. They got us all in a line on the beach and sent us off running.

About a mile into the race, lightning began zapping, thunder started booming, and the rain poured down. I can only speak for myself and the poor kid running near me but it was a downright Billy Graham experience. Right there on the beach.

I thought I was going to die.

So, I did what any normal person would do. I grabbed that boy and made him run faster than he has ever run in his life.

After all, only the ones who finished the race got a t-shirt.